McDONALD'S TEXAS INVITATIONAL WEBSITE LINK...

  By AL CARTER
  Pasadena ISD Communications
  Coast to coast. And around the world.
  Basketball players know the terms. And now the McDonald's Texas Invitational Basketball Tournament is set to give them new meaning for Texas high-school fans.
  For the first time in the tournament's prestigious 13-year history, the Texas Invitational is set to go big time in prime time. The production dynamics of FOX College Sports will cloak Phillips Field House on Saturday night for the first live telecast of the tournament's feature game -- the championship of the Boys Division 1 Gold bracket.
  The 7:30 p.m. contest will be available through cable providers coast to coast and around the world.
  In another first for the tournament, the Girls Division 1 Gold game will be offered through live video streaming on FOXSports.com.
  Global television exposure represents another major first for the tournament, which already ranks as one of the premier high-school tournaments of its kind.
  "We are very pleased to have our feature game on national television," said Ben Meador, chairman of the tournament organizing committee.
  "This game will offer the over 70 million Fox College Sports subscribers the opportunity to see some of the outstanding talent that comes out of the state of Texas. This will also allow viewers to see how our local community has come together to provide such great support for this event and make it one of the largest and most competitive tournaments in the country."
  Boys teams from 48 schools across Texas and girls teams from 32 Texas schools will compete over three days at 10 gyms in Pasadena, Deer Park, South Houston and Houston. The tournament will stage 184 games, including 14 championship contests in various divisions on Saturday.
  Boys and girls teams from all five Pasadena ISD high schools are entered. For the first time, the Deer Park ISD will partner in the tournament. Both of the Deer's boys and girls teams will compete and three Deer Park gyms - Deer Park North, along with the Watkins and Auxiliary gyms at Deer Park South - bolster the list of venues.
  The tournament is sponsored by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Pasadena ISD and Deer Park ISD education foundations. All profits from the tournament will be donated this year to those two education foundations.
  Last year's tournament set a total attendance record of 35,000 and resulted in record revenues of $145,000, all of which went toward the funding of teacher mini-grants by the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation. Since 2003, the tournament has funneled $670,000 toward Pasadena ISD mini-grants.
  The headline team in this year's tournament is defending Class 5A boys champion Flower Mound Marcus, which returns four starters from last spring's 39-1 squad. The Marauders are led by senior guards Phil Forte and Marcus Smart, and senior post Nick Banyard.
  Forte and Smart combined to average 31 points a game last season. Both players signed last week to play for Oklahoma State. Banyard signed with New Mexico.
The list of participating schools with recent state titles includes Fort Bend Bush, North Crowley, Duncanville and DeSoto, last year's Texas Invitational champion.
  The girls bracket features Cypress-Falls, last year's Division 1 Gold champion, and recent state champions Cypress-Fairbanks and Mansfield Summit.
  The highlight for Pasadena ISD schools last year was South Houston's dash to the championship game in the Boys Division 2 Silver bracket. The Trojans won three of their first four games to reach title game, where they lost to Manvel. Still, the Trojans used their tournament momentum to claim a rare district championship during the regular season.
  Pasadena ISD boys teams will play their two pool games in their home gyms on Thursday. Typically, 2-0 teams after pool play go into the Gold bracket, 1-1 teams in the Silver and 0-2 teams into the Bronze. The 24 teams in each division are divided into eight groups of three each for pool play.
  The girls field has been reduced from 36 to 32 teams to ease scheduling problems.
  The girls will play in four-team pool groups within their divisions and won't wrap up pool play until Friday. The team with the best record goes into the Gold Bracket, the second-best record into the Silver Bracket, the third-best record into the Bronze bracket and the fourth-best into the Consolation bracket.
  With the exception of two games, each of the five Pasadena ISD girls team will play their three pool games on their home courts.
  The girls teams from South Houston and Sam Rayburn open play on Thursday at noon at Phillips. The Memorial girls will face Deer Park in their second pool game at Phillips on 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
  All 10 Pasadena ISD teams - boys and girls -- will compete in Division 2.
  The Girls Division 1 Gold championship game is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Phillips.
  The Boys Division 2 Gold championship game will be played Saturday at 6 p.m. at Deer Park Watkins. The Girls Division 2 Gold championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. at Deer Park Auxiliary.
  The tournament utilizes the efforts of more than 400 volunteers to sell tickets, host teams, distribute programs and handle hospitality chores at the various venues.
  "This is a tournament where athletic achievements are highlighted and academics benefit from the donation of all profits to our local education foundations," Meador said.
  "This is a great win-win combination. It's testimony to the community spirit that exists here in Pasadena, Texas."

BOYS THURSDAY SCHEDULE

GIRLS THURSDAY/FRIDAY SCHEDULE